The password you create must be between 7 and 20 characters and contain both letters and numbers.

Passwords are case sensitive, so you can use a mix of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters for example:!, @, #, $, %, ^, &, and *.

Increase your password's strength by creating passwords that are difficult to guess. Avoid words you would find in a dictionary and names and dates familiar to people who know you.

Your password must not contain:

• spaces
• More than three sequential or identical characters (e.g. AAAA or ABCD).
• Multiple sets of sequential or identical characters (e.g. AAA123 or XYZ555).

A strong password should appear to be a random string of characters. Below are some hints to help you create a strong and memorable password in 4 steps:

1. Think of a sentence that you can remember. This will be the basis of your strong password or pass phrase. Use a memorable sentence, such as "My son Aiden is three years old."
2. Convert it to a password. Take the first letter of each word of the sentence that you've created to create a new, nonsensical word. Using the example above, you'd get: "msaityo".
3. Add complexity by mixing uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. It is valuable to use some letter swapping or misspellings as well. For instance, in the pass phrase above, consider misspelling Aiden's name, or substituting the word "three" for the number 3. There are many possible substitutions, and the longer the sentence, the more complex your password can be. Your pass phrase might become "Ayd3N is 3 yeeRs old." or "MsAy3yo".
4. Finally, substitute some special characters. You can use symbols that look like letters, combine words (remove spaces) and other ways to make the password more complex. "M$8ni3y0".

If you forget your user ID, you will not be able to log in to your My Account. You will first need to register for a new australia.gov.au account.

If you had linked your agency accounts, you will need to link those accounts again to the new user ID.

If you forget your password, you can reset it by selecting the ‘Forgotten your password?’ link on the bottom left of the australia.gov.au login page. You will need to know the answers to at least two of your secret questions.

To reset your password you must answer 2 secret questions you created for your australia.gov.au account and create a new password.

Remember, keep your password and user ID safe.

Forgotten answers to secret questions

If you forget the answers to only one or two of your questions, you will be offered another chance with a further question. If you still can't remember your answers you will lose access to your account completely. You will need to register for a new australia.gov.au account.

No. An australia.gov.au user ID, once assigned, cannot be reset. If you forget or lose your australia.gov.au user ID, you will need to register for a new account.

Yes. If you think you may forget your current password, or simply wish to change it, you can log in to your australia.gov.au account and update your password through the My Account page by clicking on the 'Edit my login settings' link at any time.

Leading and trailing spaces are 'tabs', 'spaces' or other unprintable characters at the start or end of a sentence.

If you receive an error message about "leading and trailing spaces" while creating your secret questions:

• Check that each question starts and ends with a regular text character and not a space or a tab.
• Don't copy and paste; sometimes characters that you cannot see are also copied. Type each question and answer directly into the text box instead.

If there is still a problem, please contact us for assistance.

When you first register for an australia.gov.au account you will be asked to create 5 secret questions. To help protect your personal information, you will need to answer one of your secret questions each time you log into your account.
Secret questions and answers are also used if you forget your password.

Tips for creating secret questions